Boris, now cutting crime and increasing patrols…in Hampshire?

More picture intrigue from Boris Johnson’s re-election campaign which is hoping to wow voters by boasting of the Mayor’s success in cutting crime “by increasing police numbers and patrols”.

Seemingly the message is aimed at those key voters in Hampshire – at least that’s where the officers in the accompanying image are thought to be patrolling.Police officers patrolling, but not in London

At first I thought the ‘ridged’ (coxcomb) helmets belonged to the City of London Police and assumed someone in Team Boris had at least got the city, if not the force, right.

But after checking with the very useful Britishpolicehelmet.co.uk website it seems they didn’t even manage to do that.

I’m told the presence of chrome helmet vents rules out the officers being responsible for patrolling the Square Mile as the City force uses a black coloured top vent.

The expert view is that the helmets seem to be those of the Hampshire force which, of course, Boris has no responsibility for.

If it’s any consolation Team Boris are still one up on the defunct Government Office for London which illustrated a feature on fire safety in the capital with an image of a New York fireman.